I am looking at the express. I see one for sale that is a 1996 express CT. So what is the difference between it and an express 2000? Can the airplane be updated to a 2000 model? Or would I be best to wait on a nice 2000 to come along?Kind Regards Alan

In the early days of the Express, it was discovered that the cruciform tail was subject to one nasty behavior under certain limited circumstances. Flying slow, below about 70mph, with no flaps and full rudder, the tail will eventually stall, leading to a very abrupt nose-over. While that sounds drastic, it's not so unusual - The Cessna 150 will do the same with full flaps and slow uncoordinated flight. With the Express, less than full rudder deflection or flaps will prevent it. It's easy to avoid this regime. Two results were changing the rudder limit from +/- 25 degrees to +/- 20, and the design of the low conventional tail.

Personally, I'd much rather have the CT. The low tail design is not elegant - the horizontal is too fat and it and rudder area are reactionary overkill, resulting in the 2000 being considerably slower than the CT. Operationally, the smaller tail simply means you keep the rear seat passengers plus baggage below 400 pounds, just like a V-tail Bonanza, and don't fly fully uncoordinated below 70 with no flaps. On the other hand, it is routine to hard side slip the plane at 80 with full flaps to lose lots of altitude fast. And I've never had any issue with elevator authority with any kind of loading.

Updating a CT to 2000 means cutting the tail off, which is subject parts availability, and a bunch of work. And as Kevin has mentioned other places on the forum, the plane was originally designed for the Lyc and Cont 360 engines, and in a number of ways, it likes it that way -performance, weight and balance, fuel burn, and engine cooling. There are many out there with 540's, but most have had some kind of battle with heat and the performance advantage is not that great. When my 360 failed, I put in a 390, and I love it...